Melbourne named world’s most liveable city for a record seven years in a row

MELBOURNE has retained its standing as the world’s most liveable city. See why Sydney didn’t even make the top 10 and how Victoria’s capital kept the title for a record seventh year.

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MELBOURNE has been named world’s most liveable city for a record seventh year in a row.

It’s the first time a city has held the title in its own right over that number of wins, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Report 2017.

Melbourne scored an overall rating of 97.5 out of 100 on the liveability index this year, narrowly pipping the Austrian capital Vienna at the post.

In a repeat of last year’s result, the Canadian cities of Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary took the next positions, with Adelaide in a tie with Calgary for fifth place.

The only other Australian city in the top 10 was Perth in seventh place, while Sydney came in at 11, “reflecting growing concerns over possible terror attacks”.

Melbourne scored a perfect 100 in healthcare, education and infrastructure.

It scored 95.1 for culture and environment and 95 for stability.

The scores were identical to last year’s liveability index results.

The report said that although the top five cities remain unchanged, “the past few years have seen increasing instability across the world, causing volatility in the scores of many cities”.

Balloon passengers get a stunning view of Melbourne’s beautiful skyline. Picture: Eugene Hyland

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“In Europe, cities have been affected by the spreading perceived threat of terrorism in the region,” it said.

“Sydney in Australia is another city that has seen a decline in its ranking, reflecting growing concerns over possible terror attacks in the past three years.”

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle hailed Melbourne’s dominance by surpassing Vancouver’s previous record of six wins on the trot in its own right.

“The world record is an amazing feat that all Melburnians should be extremely proud of today,” he said.

“The EIU measures factors that make cities great places to live and again we achieved outstanding results in the areas of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.”

Cr Doyle said every city in the world had problems but the issue was whether you paid attention to them.

“That doesn’t mean we are a perfect city by any means ... I would hope that a city like ours would keep a focus on those who are most vulnerable, those who are worried about housing affordability, young people trying to get into education or a job, those who are vulnerable and homeless,” he said.

Sunrise at Port Melbourne. Picture: Nicole Garmston

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The win was the seventh for Melbourne, a record. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Speaking after the announcement was made official this morning, Cr Doyle said it was a remarkable achievement.

“I want to thank the people of Melbourne, the institutions of Melbourne, it’s an act where we all come together,” he said.

“We will use that as part of our branding — never underestimate the importance of marketing that, particularly into our Asian market, into Asia and how important it is.”

Transport Minister Jacinta Allen said Melburnians would never tire of having their city honoured this way so many times.

“We won’t get sick of this because it recognises all those great attributes that we already know,” she said.

“Those of us who live and work in and around Melbourne really know that Melbourne’s a wonderful place to live and work.”

“We’re home to the strongest population growth, we’re home to the strongest job growth of any state in the nation.

“We have to work really, really hard to keep this position and to keep this momentum going and that’s why you’re seeing us invest in those big infrastructure projects like the Metro tunnel, getting rid of dangerous and congested level crossings, building the Westgate Tunnel.”

7.07am, Collins St. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Melburnians on their way to work in the city. Picture. Nicole Garmston

Every city was assigned a rating of relative comfort across 30 factors involving stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Premier Daniel Andrews dubbed it a win for all Victorians, “who contribute so much to making Melbourne the best place to live in the world”.

“We’ll continue working hard every day to make Melbourne even better, and create a fairer, safer and stronger state for all Victorians,” he said.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said Melbourne was one of the world’s great cities.

“But we now also have some of the world’s most expensive electricity, crippling traffic congestion, a surge in violent crime rates and an out of control population growth, which puts our liveability at risk,” he said.

Committee for Melbourne CEO Martine Letts said the award was great news for the city, but Melbourne’s appeal as an international city was under threat “from the profound forces of innovation and disruption brought about by the fourth industrial revolution”.

“Liveability is a key component our city’s ability to attract and retain top global and local talent,” she said.

“We need to be bold, ambitious and clear in our vision for Melbourne’s progress if we are to make the most of our advantages.”

Vienna came in second on the list. Picture: Istock

Canadian city Vancouver was third. Picture: istock

RMIT planning expert Professor Michael Buxton said the EIU’s liveability index was aimed at global professionals who lived in the best part of town.

“The ranking that comes up is not really saying anything about life for the vast majority of people in Melbourne, who are facing housing affordability and congestion issues” he said.

Prof Buxton said that Melbourne’s huge population growth was putting strain on infrastructure and services, but state governments had failed to keep up with demand.

“Turning Melbourne into a high rise city dependent on cars and wrecking our heritage is a really big issue that government wants to ignore,” he said.

The Lord Mayor said there will always be “naysayers and whingers, and of course we are not perfect”.

“No great world city is, but we should be very proud of the work we all do together to make Melbourne the best city in the world,” he said.

The report said the world’s least liveable cities were the Syrian capital Damascus, Lagos in Nigeria, Tripoli in Libya and the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Under the liveability index each city is assigned a rating of relative comfort across 30 factors involving stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

@JMasanauskas